1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a kind of coupling tool, and more particularly, relates to a kind of automatic shipping container coupling tool which is simple in structure, convenient and reliable in practices for detachably stacking shipping containers.
2. Description of Related Arts
Commonly, the shipping containers are stacked one another for achieving an optimized efficiency in transportation. To ensure the security, one or more couplers would be applied between any pair of overlaid containers. On the other hand, shipping containers are designed to fit standard size, and are prepared with corner fittings with international standard size. Each of such corner fittings has an exposed opening defined thereon for insertion of the couplings.
A coupling, or a coupler, is a mechanism for vertically connecting shipping containers during transportation. The design of such couplers is very important, since flexibility and convenience are maximized if the couplers could work together no matter what order they come in.
However, the conventional container couplers are inefficient and slow in practices for stacking an upper shipping container onto a lower shipping container. Commonly, a coupler comprises an upper portion and a lower portion respectively adapted for inserting into respective corners fittings of two containers. Generally, two containers are coupled in such a manner. In loading processes, the upper container is hung in the air by a crane, a coupler should be manually rotated to be inserted into the corner fitting holes for enabling the upper portion of the coupler well and securely received within a bottom corner fittings of the upper container. Afterwards, the upper container would be lowered by the crane enabling the lower portion of the coupler accommodated within a top corner fitting hole of a lower container. In such process, the lower portion of the coupler had to be manually rotated between a disengaged position and an engaging position for inserting through the corner-fitting opening. Vice versa, such couplers had to be manually rotated another time to be extracted from the corner fitting holes for releasing the upper container from the lower container.
Needless to say, considerable labor maneuverability might be required for handling the couplers in shipping process, and the safety issue would be one of the main arguments for how to couple and stack shipping containers. Besides inefficient and slow in practice, a prominent drawback of the conventional hand-coupled system is relatively unsafe to workers. Most of the cases, personnel would have to get in between containers, for either coupling or uncoupling procedures.
On the other hand, a conventional coupler is made up of many parts, which leads to a complicated structure of such kind of coupler. As a result, the maintenance and reparation of such kind of couplings would be difficult and expectably expensive. Therefore, a kind of innovative container coupling tool, which is simple in structure, and efficient reliable in operation would be definitely welcomed within the art.